English Curriculum Redesign through an EFL Teacher Study Group

Abstract

This study investigates how a teacher study group collectively examined problems in their current English curriculum and redesigned the curriculum into theme-based lessons for various grades. Comprised of seven elementary school teachers and a teacher educator, the teacher study group met bi-weekly for three hours for a total of eight meetings. The transcripts from the group meetings, individual interviews, field-notes, and lesson plans were collected. With the framework of activity theory for data analysis, this study reports on the problems reviewed and identified in the curriculum, and explores how the group worked collaboratively to restructure their English curriculum by developing thematic units incorporating key competencies in the textbooks. The teachers` perceptions towards their participation in curriculum redesign are analyzed and reported.

本研究旨在探究教師成長社群如何合作檢視當今英語課程所存在的問題，並將課程以主題單元的方式進行課程再造。本研究係由七名小學教師與一名師資培育專家共同組成的教師成長社群。參與者每兩週聚會一次，每次為時三個小時，共聚會八次。研究資料的蒐集包含小組聚會逐字記錄稿、個別訪談、觀察筆記以及設計教案等。本研究以活動理論之理論基礎進行資料分析，探究教師成長社群如何揭示現有的課程問題，並藉由合作撰寫主題式的教案以利統整教科書中的核心能力而進行英語課程再造。參與課程再造的教師的觀感也進一步地分析與呈現。